This invention relates to mobile load handling equipment such as a tractor with a backhoe and more particularly to stabilizers for such equipment.
Mobile load handling equipment such as excavators and backhoes, frequently are mounted on a self-propelled vehicle, such as a tractor, on which the load handling or excavating equipment is supported for transport on the road and for load handling operations during off the road operation.
Usually, such equipment is provided with a stabilizer which engages the ground to support the weight of the vehicle and the loads being manipulated to form a more stable operating platform than can be provided by ground engaging wheels and suspension systems of the vehicle. In the case of a backhoe, for example, such stabilizing equipment is disposed at the rear of the vehicle between the latter and the backhoe equipment and is engageable with the ground at laterally spaced points which serve to resist tilting of the vehicle. The points of engagement with the ground are formed by pads or foot members having a substantial ground engaging, load bearing surface. The structure is usually of a transverse width which will provide a maximum stability for the vehicle and the load handling equipment and at the same time will be no greater than the legal maximum vehicle width which is permitted on a highway. To increase the transverse width of the stabilizer to increase its effectiveness during off the road operation, it is usual to use hydraulically actuated equipment and linkages which are complex and costly or attachments which must be added and subsequently removed for on the road movement of the vehicle.